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HISTORY
summary fashion, either by epitomizing, like the writers of compendia, or by
selecting what he regarded as the most significant events, much as Procopius
later prefaced to his history of the Persian wars of Justinian a survey of the
military situation on the eastern frontier during the preceding century. Ammianus'
method of work, as will be seen, was unsuitable for writing the history of
the more distant past, for which he -would have to depend on secondary
sources. The question arises at what point detailed treatment began. The
beginning of the surviving books, in the middle of the caesarship of Gallus,
is an unlikely point. Most probably Ammianus began his large-scale treatment
with the death of Constantine in 337, but other hypotheses are possible.
Ammianus' subject is the history of the Roman empire, which for him comprised
the greater part of the known world. He sees it against a larger but less
distinct background, in which the ominous movements of peoples beyond the
frontier can be discerned with greater or lesser clarity, while his curious eye on
occasion ranges throughout the barbarian world, from the Attacotti, Scotti and
Picti of northern Scotland (26.4.5, 20.1.1, 27.8.5) through the Goths (26.4.5,
27.4.1 etc.), the Sarmatians (26.10.20, 31.4.13), the Huns (31.2.1—2), the
Sogdians (23.6.14) and the Indians (14.3.3, 23.6.12, 23.6.72—3, 31.2.16) to the
distant Seres of China (14.3.3, 23.6.60-8, 31.2.15). His arrangement is chronological,
but not strictly annalistic. His interest is no longer centred on court and
Senate at Rome, with occasional glances at the activities of the frontier armies,
as was that of Tacitus. The imperial court now moved from Trier to Milan, to
Sirmium, to Constantinople, to Antioch. And sometimes the moment of
decision was with the army rather than with the emperor. So Ammianus' scene
shifts from Mesopotamia to Constantinople or Milan or Gaul, or even on occasion
to Rome, as momentous events and decisions require. His canvas is far wider
than that of Tacitus and the technical problems which he faces more complex.
Indeed in Books 26 to 31, dealing with the period of Valentinian and Valens, the
chronological sequence is virtually abandoned in favour of a geographical
arrangement, as events in east and west follow their largely independent course.
The history of events is also the history of people. Ammianus' narrative is
crowded with individuals, many of whom are introduced with a brief characterization:
Orfitus is 'a man of prudence and a thoroughly experienced lawyer, but
with a background in the liberal arts inadequate for a nobleman' (14.6.1),
Viventius is ' a Pannonian, yet honest and prudent' (27.3.11). It is noteworthy
that this treatment is reserved for civilians and that military men are never thus
characterized. Some of the major figures receive somewhat longer and more
formal descriptions, dealing with their physical appearance as well as their
character, e.g. Gallus (14, n, 27-78) or Procopius (26.6.16°., 26.9.11). Petronius
Probus, Praetorian Prefect in 368, head of the powerful Anician family,
and clearly a man whom Ammianus detested, is honoured by a long and
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